Well, Durene is back from her trip to China now and finally getting over the jetlag.  Being exactly 12 hours different from the US is hard to get used to!!  Durene got to meet with many wonderful people over there, including some representatives from the Design Department at the University in Suzhou, and other deans of the University.  Their hospitality was outstanding and the food was amazing.  We can’t wait to work more closely with everyone in the coming months, as we cross both Western and Eastern design ideas!!

From Left to Right: Lisa, Amy, Assistant Dean of English, Dean of Design School, Durene, Pat, Jean, Weizhong, Daniel

Also known as the “Venice of the East” this historic city is criss-crossed with beautiful canals and ancient buildings dating back over a millenia.  We had a wonderful time seeing the unique architecture and gorgeous temples, bridges and waterways.  The many gardens are characterized by rock formations, architectural and water features.  It was a great break from our busy trip–see some of the photos below!

See the photos from our tour in China of a silk factory.  Thousands of silk worms are needed to produce enough silk thread to make one bolt of silk fabric!!

Making silk fabric is a complicated and involved process.  Silk worms are fed mulberry leaves until they spin cocoons made of the very fine silk fibers.  These cocoons are then individually unraveled and spun into silk threads.  The silk threads can then be dyed and woven into silk fabrics.

We are excited about our new showroom space in China–check back in a few days for pictures of the space, pre-renovations!!